Debating Same-Sex Marriage

John Corvino and Maggie Gallagher

Description

As the uproar over the recent New York State law demonstrates, same-sex marriage is a perennial hot-button issue, certain to impact the 2012 election. Debating Same-Sex Marriage provides a useful roadmap to both sides of this contentious matter. Taking a "point/counterpoint" approach, John Corvino (a philosopher and a prominent gay advocate) and Maggie Gallagher (a nationally syndicated columnist and co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage) consider key questions about the institution itself: What is marriage for? Is marriage meant to be a gendered institution? Why is the state in the business of sanctioning marriage? Where do the needs of children fit in? Will legalization of same-sex marriage lead to legalization of polygamy? Corvino argues that society should support same-sex marriage because of its interest in supporting stable households for all its members, gay and straight alike. Gallagher argues that government recognition of same-sex unions as marriages will disconnect marriage from its key public mission furthering responsible procreation, while stigmatizing traditional views of sex, marriage and family as bigotry. Both agree that the issue deserves thoughtful, rigorous engagement.

Debating Same-Sex Marriage

John Corvino and Maggie Gallagher

Table of Contents

1. What Marriage is For 2. The History of Marriage 3. The Significance of Gender 4. The Needs of Children 5. The Needs of Adults 6. Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom 7. The Slippery-Slope to Polygamy 8. "By Any Other Name": Civil Unions, Domestic Partnerships, and Other Statuses

Debating Same-Sex Marriage

John Corvino and Maggie Gallagher

Reviews and Awards

"this is a very useful book, especially in the way that it sets out the public reason arguments for and against same-sex marriage, and so lets readers evaluate which are more persuasive ... The book can and should be widely used in undergraduate courses in philosophy as well as other disciplines, and could be useful in law or public policy graduate programs, as well as appealing to the general educated public." - Matthew Lister, Criminal Law and Philosophy

"...a valuable introduction to the debate" - Megan Pearson, London School of Economics Review of Books

"... a valuable addition to the debate." - Publishers Weekly

Debating Same-Sex Marriage

John Corvino and Maggie Gallagher

From Our Blog

Like many, I'm still digesting the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision'not just its text, but its personal and social significance. When I wrote Debating Same-Sex Marriage with Maggie Gallagher (Oxford University Press, 2012), only a handful of states permitted same-sex couples to marry. In the three years since, that handful grew to dozens; last Friday's decision grows it to all 50. One striking thing about the decision itself is the importance of the definitional question: What is marriage?

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act in their decision on the United States vs. Windsor. The judges also dismissed the Proposition 8 case (Hollingsworth vs. Perry), clearing the way for same-sex couples in California to marry.

Polls and election results show Americans are sharply divided on same-sex marriage, and the controversy is unlikely to subside, especially with a presidential election almost upon us. As a result, Debating Same-Sex Marriage co-author John Corvino, chose to speak to some of the questions revolving around the same-sex marriage dilemma and why the rights and responsibilities of marriage are still important.